1984 World Series
The 1984 World Series began on October 9 and ended on October 14, 1984. The American League champion Detroit Tigers played against the National League champion San Diego Padres, with the Tigers winning the series 4 games to 1. This was the first World Series that Peter Ueberroth presided over as commissioner. Ueberroth began his tenure on October 1, succeeding Bowie Kuhn. Ueberroth had been elected as Kuhn's successor prior to the 1984 season, but did not take over until the postseason as he was serving as the chairman of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which ran from July 28 through August 12. This was the last NBC-broadcast World Series to air before General Electric acquired RCA, NBC's parent company. Preview The San Diego Padres won the National League West division by 12 games over both the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros, then defeated the Chicago Cubs, three games to two, in the National League Championship Series. The Detroit Tigers won the American League East division by 15 games over the Toronto Blue Jays, then swept the Kansas City Royals, three games to none, in the American League Championship Series. The 1984 World Series was a rematch between managers Sparky Anderson (Detroit) and Dick Williams (San Diego). The two had previously faced off in the 1972 World Series, with Anderson managing the Cincinnati Reds and Williams helming the victorious Oakland Athletics. The 1984 Series was Anderson's fifth overall as a manager – in addition to the 1972 Fall Classic, he had also managed the Reds during the 1970 World Series (which they lost to the Baltimore Orioles) and served as skipper during Cincinnati's back-to-back world championships in 1975 and 1976. Anderson's counterpart, Williams, was managing in his fourth World Series; he had headed the Boston Red Sox during the "Impossible Dream" season, when they won their first pennant in 21 years in a tight race over the Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox. After his Athletics won the 1972 World Series, Williams again led them to victory in the 1973 Series over the New York Mets. The 1984 World Series was a battle of sorts between the multi-million dollar American fast-food chains. Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan owned the Tigers while McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, who died several months before the 1984 World Series, owned the Padres. Detroit Tigers By May 24, , the Detroit Tigers had just won their 9th straight game with Jack Morris on the mound winning his 9th game of the season. The Tigers record stood at 35-5 – a major league record. In the next three games they would get swept by the Seattle Mariners and settle down to play .500 ball over the next 40 games. But in the end would wind up with a franchise record 104 wins and become only the third team in MLB history to lead the league wire-to-wire. These Tigers were strong up the middle featuring all-stars at each middle position with catcher Lance Parrish setting a career high in home runs with 33, the record-setting tandem of Lou Whitaker at 2nd base and Alan Trammell at shortstop (they played together from 1977-95.) Solid center-fielder Chet Lemon with ace starting pitcher Jack Morris and eventual Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player, Willie Hernandez (9-3, 1.92, 32 svs) closing. The Detroit Tigers would sign ageless wonder free-agent Darrell Evans (their first free-agent signing since Tito Fuentes in 1977) and acquired first baseman Dave Bergman and the aforementioned reliever Willie Hernandez in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. Bergman would settle in as the Tigers' everyday first baseman providing steady glove-work. And of course there was “Mr. Clutch”, right-fielder Kirk Gibson, who had a break-out year with 27 home runs, 29 stolen bases, 91 RBIs, and a .282 batting average. After winning two World Championships with the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, manager Sparky Anderson was primed to win his first in the American League in his 7th season with the Detroit Tigers. San Diego Padres Williams’ was in his third season with the San Diego Padres after leading them to identical 81-81 (.500) records in 1982 and 1983. 1984 would mark only the second time in Padre history that the team would finish over .500, the other being an 84-78 record in 1978. With the Padres' NL pennant in 1984, Williams became the second manager to take three teams to the World Series (he had previously taken the 1967 Red Sox and the 1972 and 1973 Athletics to the Fall Classic). The Padres set a franchise record for victories with 92 in 1984, being led by two veterans, first baseman Steve Garvey and third baseman Graig Nettles. Statistically, this team was not overwhelming, with Nettles and Kevin McReynolds leading the team with just 20 home runs. The team eventually would lose McReynolds in Game 4 of the NLCS due to a broken wrist. No player would come close to 100 RBIs (Garvey, 86) or have over 30 doubles in the season, although stalwart thumper Tony Gwynn would lead the National League in hitting for the first time with a .351 average and 213 hits. The pitching staff was average – a staff of 20 something’s and 32 year-old closer, Goose Gossage (10-6, 25 svs), who was signed as a free agent from the New York Yankees. Eric Show led the staff with 15 wins with Ed Whitson and lefty Mark Thurmond having identical 14-8 records. But the sterling bullpen, headed by Gossage and Craig “Lefty” Lefferts, held the staff together enough to take this team to the “Big Show” although they would falter and get ripped by the Tiger bats losing the Series in 5 games. As champions of the National League, the Padres had home-field advantage. But had the Chicago Cubs won the NLCS (which appeared likely after the Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series), the Tigers would have gained home-field advantage despite the fact the AL's Baltimore Orioles had it the season before. NBC was contractually obligated to show all midweek series games in prime time, something that would have been impossible at Wrigley Field, since the Cubs' venerable facility lacked lights at the time (they would not install lights until four years later). Had the Cubs advanced to the Series, Detroit would have hosted Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 (on Tuesday and Wednesday nights), while the Cubs would have hosted Games 3, 4 and 5 (on Friday, Saturday and Sunday), with all three games in Chicago starting no later than 1:30 p.m. Central time. The 1984 Padres adopted Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" as their theme song (a la the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates using Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" as their theme song). During their playoff series against the Chicago Cubs, the Padre fans turned Ghostbusters into Cubbusters. Ironically, the movie Ghostbusters starred noted Chicago Cub fan Bill Murray. Summary AL Detroit Tigers (4) vs NL San Diego Padres (1) Matchups Game 1 Tuesday, October 9, 1984 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California Game 1 set the tone for the contest as Mark Thurmond managed to last five innings with a 2-1 lead, but surrendered a crucial two-out, two-run homer to Larry Herndon in the fifth. Graig Nettles and Terry Kennedy both singled to open the San Diego sixth, but the Tigers' Jack Morris (a nineteen game winner) snuffed out their momentum by striking out the rest of the side. Kurt Bevacqua continued the fleeting comeback with a leadoff double in the seventh, but was thrown out at third while attempting to stretch the bases. Despite the close call, Morris remained focused and sat down the last nine remaining Padre batters for the 3-2 victory. Game 2 Wednesday, October 10, 1984 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California Kurt Bevacqua evened the series at 1-1 with a fifth-inning home run. To date, this remains the only World Series victory in Padres history. Andy Hawkins, the winning pitcher, relieved starter Ed Whitson in the first inning. Game 2 at Jack Murphy Stadium marked the last MLB game to date where the DH was used in a National League ballpark. Since then, any game in an American League park uses the DH (previously, the DH was used in alternating World Series), while pitchers bat in the NL parks. Game 3 Friday, October 12, 1984 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan By the time the 1984 World Series rolled around, Tiger Stadium became the oldest ballpark to ever host a World Series. That record was soon eclipsed by Boston's Fenway Park, which hosted the Fall Classic in 1986, 2004 and 2007. Tim Lollar failed to make it out of the second inning as Detroit erupted for four runs en route to a 5-2 victory for Milt Wilcox. The victory gave the Tigers a two games to one series lead. Game 4 Saturday, October 13, 1984 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan Alan Trammell drilled two homers to account for all of Detroit's offense as the Tigers beat Eric Show to take a three games to one lead in the Series. Jack Morris got his second Series victory. Game 5 Sunday, October 14, 1984 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan For the fourth consecutive game, the Padres' starting pitcher did not make it past the third inning, as the Tigers jumped on Mark Thurmond for three runs in the first inning. The Padres rallied to tie the score in the fourth, but the Tigers pulled ahead again with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings. After the Padres closed it to a one-run game in the eighth, Kirk Gibson came to the plate for the Tigers with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth. Padres manager Dick Williams called on Goose Gossage to face Gibson (who had already homered once in the game), seemingly with the purpose of walking him intentionally. During the at-bat, Gibson made a $10 bet (flashing ten fingers) with his manager Sparky Anderson that Gossage (who had dominated Gibson in the past) would pitch to him. Gossage talked Williams into letting him pitch to Gibson, and Gibson responded with a three-run blast into the upper deck to clinch the Series for the Tigers. In the ninth, Willie Hernandez closed out the series for the Tigers by getting Tony Gwynn to fly out for the final out. While Alan Trammell won the Sport Magazine variation of the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, Jack Morris won the Babe Ruth variation. After being unceremoniously dumped by the Cincinnati Reds in , Tigers manager Sparky Anderson immediately vowed that he would win a World Championship for Detroit in less than five years. Anderson would become the first manager to win a World Championship in both the American and National League. Game 5 had a starting time of 4 p.m. ET, following a 1 p.m. start for Game 4. These were the last outdoor World Series games to be played in the afternoon in the eastern United States. No World Series has ended as early as October 14 since 1984; in fact, with the exception of Game 1 of the 1989 World Series (played on October 14, 1989), no World Series game has been played earlier than October 15 since 1984. Format changes—the best-of-five League Championship Series becoming best-of-seven affairs, followed by the addition of best-of-five League Division Series—have made that impossible, even when baseball's regular seasons have ended on the last Sunday in September. Composite Box 1984 World Series (4-1): Detroit Tigers (A.L.) over San Diego Padres (N.L.) |}} Aftermath Three players set World Series hitting records during the 1984 World Series. Less than 20 years after winning the 1984 World Series Most Valuable Player Award, Alan Trammell would become manager of the Detroit Tigers. In a sad twist of irony, Trammell was the Detroit skipper in 2003, when the Tigers lost 119 games and threatened to break the modern (post- ) Major League record for most losses in a season (120), set by the New York Mets in their first season of . Series quotes Notes References *Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 402-406) * External links *1984 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com *[http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1984 1984 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)] *1984 NLCS |Game 5 at MLB.com *1984 ALCS |Game 3 at MLB.com *1984 World Series at Baseball-Almanac.com *Detroit Jumped All Over 'Em at SI.com *1984 World Series box scores and play-by-play at Retrosheet.org *History of the World Series - 1984 at SportingNews.com *Baseball's Greatest Teams: 1984 Detroit Tigers at baseballlibrary.com *1984 Detroit Tigers: Day-by-Day Summary at baseballlibrary.com *1984 San Diego Padres: Day-by-Day Summary at baseballlibrary.com *Twenty years ago, Padres concocted cohesive crew for run at World Series Category:World Series World Series Category:Detroit Tigers Category:San Diego Padres